Guide To Lowering Your Nicotine Strength When Vaping
When looking to reduce your nicotine intake it’s important to have a clear goal in mind. Is your plan to vape less and reduce excessive puffing, quit vaping completely by going cold turkey, move towards nicotine free e-liquids, or simply drop down to a lower strength? Are you looking for immediate results or do you have time to lower your nicotine levels over a longer period of time?
It’s important to remember the reason you started vaping in the first place is to quit tobacco. Quick nicotine reduction if done correctly can be successful, but you must not relapse and revert back to cigarette smoking as a result which is far more harmful to your health. It has been estimated that vaping is around 95% safer than smoking.
It’s good to know your personal triggers. Do you vape more when you are stressed, tired, anxious, sad or when you consume alcohol? If so, you need to be aware of your most common triggers and avoid slipping back to your old ways. Try and keep your mind distracted to help alleviate social triggers, emotional triggers or activity triggers.
Don’t worry, you’ve got this!
Is Nicotine Really That Bad?
While nicotine is addictive and found in both cigarettes and many e-liquids, it’s not the most harmful component. The real danger comes from the thousands of chemicals in tobacco smoke, many of which are toxic and can lead to cancer, lung disease, heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes. Switching from smoking to vaping can significantly reduce your exposure to these harmful toxins. Nicotine itself, though addictive, is relatively harmless compared to the toxic substances found in cigarette smoke.
9 Vaping Tips For Nicotine Reduction:
1. Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Gradually reduce your nicotine intake overtime, but don’t rush for the most successful results. Only reduce your nicotine consumption when you are ready to ensure you don’t revert back to smoking as a result. Gradual reduction is less stressful than quitting suddenly and going cold turkey, it will also lower your withdrawal symptoms making the lower dose of nicotine more manageable.
2. Lower Nicotine Strengths
Create a realistic timeframe of when you want to lower your nicotine dose, test the waters before diving in head first is the best approach. Try a lower nicotine e-liquid and see if it keeps your cravings at bay. We advise to lower your nicotine level in stages and not dramatically dropping from a high strength nicotine e-liquid like 18mg to a low strength like 3mg. This huge leap will probably be too much of a jump and will often make for an unsuccessful lower nicotine adjustment.
If you are using nicotine salt e-liquids you mainly have three options; 20mg, 10mg and 5mg. So if you are using 20mg, why not try 10mg and so on. Small steps lead to better results overall.
Look at nicotine strengths as a series of stages, from nicotine free vapes, low strength vapes, medium strength vapes and high strength vapes. Jump lower down the nicotine stages for successful quit vaping attempts.
High strength e-liquids: 18mg, 20mg
Medium strength e-liquids: 10mg, 12mg
Low strength e-liquids: 3mg and 6mg
Nicotine free e-liquids: 0mg/ml
If you find that when dropping down nicotine strengths that you are vaping more than before and consuming more e-liquid, you have to ask yourself is your objective to lower your nicotine intake or lower your vaping frequency?
Your body will be used to the previous level of nicotine and your brain will signal to vape more. This is where you need to suppress your urges and allow time for your body to adjust to the new decreased level of nicotine. Over time your new reduced nicotine levels will become a new norm but it may require will power and determination in the initial stages.
If you stay at a certain nicotine level for a while, or longer than you planned, that’s ok. Stick with your plan and see it through.
3. Mix Your Own E-Liquid
You could try switching to shortfill and longfill e-liquids and adding your own nicotine shots manually to find the sweet-spot. If you are looking for strengths between the nicotine level increments like 14mg which isn’t readily available, you can mix your own and experiment to find a balance on your journey to being vape-free. It can be quite hard to calculate nicotine strengths when mixing your own but find a nicotine dose which gets you through the day.
Alternatively, you can mix to nicotine e-liquids together. For example, if you’re looking for 9mg nicotine e-liquid, you can mix equal parts 12mg and 6mg nicotine e-liquid together to reach your desired nic level through dilution.
4. Try Higher PG Ratio E-Liquids
Propylene glycol (PG) in e-liquids provides a throat hit or feeling on the throat that replicates smoking or nicotine when vaping. Switching to high PG e-liquids can trick your brain into thinking you are inhaling stronger nicotine e-liquids when the PG is supplying the stronger throat feel when using low nicotine doses.
Switching to high PG-based e-liquids can offer a satisfying feeling even with vaping with less nicotine in your e-liquid and help when gradually reducing your nicotine intake with high PG ratios.
5. Try Strong Tasting E-Liquid Flavours
Switching from mild e-liquid flavours to heavy-hitting flavours like Tobacco, Menthol or Heisenberg may help you reduce your nicotine levels as the powerful flavour may trick your brain into thinking a higher nicotine concentration is present in your juice.
6. Try Nicotine Salt E-Liquids
You could try switching from freebase e-liquids to nicotine salt e-liquids in an attempt to decrease your nicotine levels and vape less. Nic salts offer a range of benefits including; swift nicotine absorption into the bloodstream similar to the hit from a cigarette, smooth delivery even when using higher strength vape liquids, delivers a strong nicotine dose with higher nicotine levels, and long-lasting craving satisfaction.
The benefits of nic salt e-liquids results in efficient nicotine delivery in a stronger strength which often means longer-lasting satisfaction with less frequent puffs and less e-liquid consumption.
7. Try Sub-Ohm Vaping
You could try switching to sub-ohm vaping in an attempt at lowering your nicotine levels when vaping. Although sub ohm vaping requires a direct to lung (DTL) style inhaling technique which feels different to smoking, it uses lower nicotine strengths with a larger dose per puff.
Sub ohm vape liquids are available pre-made or you can mix your own when using shortfills and nicotine shots. They are best enjoyed in 3mg or 6mg nicotine strengths, so if you’re using higher strengths making the switch could dramatically reduce your nicotine intake. The adjustment may take some time to getting used to, but if your goal is to reduce your nicotine consumption this could be an effective method.
8. Only Vape When You Have Cravings
As vaping can be enjoyed in more locations than smoking, it can be easy to puff away excessively. But if you have read this far, you are on a mission to vape with less nicotine or quit vaping altogether.
Closely monitor how often you are vaping or opt for a vape kit with a puff counter this will help when tailoring your vaping experience to your quitting goals. Write down your nicotine reduction vaping journey or create a quit plan, and tell people close to you so they can offer support. This is a personal journey that only you can succeed in.
Keep at it, learn from your mistakes and reward your small victories. Remember, your cravings will pass.
9. Avoid Going Cold Turkey
Even for strong-willed vapers, completely quitting can be tricky without conditioning your body by lowering your nicotine level gradually. If this is the approach you want to take, I salute you and wish you the best of luck, but it’s important not to relapse when under stress, peer pressure or had a bad day in the office.
What are potential nicotine withdrawal symptoms you can expect when reducing your nicotine level when vaping?
Nicotine cravings
Irritability
Insomnia
Restlessness
Difficulty concentrating
Anxiety
Depression
Increased appetite
Is vaping without nicotine pointless?
Vaping without nicotine can be beneficial if you are looking to be free from nicotine dependency. Vaping nicotine-free e-liquids offers flavour, hand-to-mouth action and a feeling on the throat, but without the stimulant nicotine.
Nic free (0mg) e-liquids are completely free from any nicotine and are a great choice of you’re looking to lower your nicotine intake on your journey to vaping cessation.
Is vaping less nicotine healthier?
Vaping is much less harmful compared to smoking cigarettes and exposes you to far less toxins than tobacco smoking. Nicotine gets lots of bad press, while nicotine is the addictive substance in cigarettes and nicotine containing vapes, most of the harm comes from thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke. Cigarettes release thousands of different chemicals when they burn. Many are poisonous and up to 70 cause cancer. Evidence suggests that vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking and switching to vaping significantly reduces your exposure to harmful toxins.
Vaping without nicotine can be beneficial, although nicotine itself is not very harmful. Vaping less nicotine can help you free from nicotine dependency and reduce your risk of reverting back to smoking in the future.
How long does nicotine withdrawal last from vaping?
If you are experiencing nicotine withdrawal symptoms from vaping these should last anywhere from two to four weeks as your body adjusts to lower dependency with less nicotine. This time frame could be extended depending on how much you vaped and how long you vaped for. The first few days will be especially tough, but when you have completed 5 days of lowering your nicotine or going nicotine-free, things should start to get easier.
Nicotine withdrawal in some cases can cause anxiety, difficulty concentrating or irritability, these symptoms should quickly pass as your brain re-learns how to function without nicotine.